A pleasant surprise.

[RUDD]

A quick unplanned session this evening has put a smile on my face.

On Tuesday I got lazy and took a light set up I have been using knowing for well the fish have woken up which cost me what I thought was a big carp. A sail away bite saw a fish dive deep and fizz up the bottom on a very slow but powerfull run resulting in a parted hook length as I tried to stop it reaching some snags.

This evening I took an Avon set up with 6lb line and a 5lb hook length but set up an identical waggler rig.

Had a nice Tench but then all went quiet. Could see bubbles and debris but could not get a bite. After a while there was a decent fizz so I put a 6mm expander pellet over the top. The bite was instant and I had almost the same run as Tuesday with the bottom erupting in a long slow line of bubbles. It was one heck of a battle lasting five minutes or so.

When the fish became visible I was shaking in disbelief combined with adrenaline. Four times I tried in vain to net it but every time it got free. At last success and she was mine.

The hook fell out in the net as I lay her on the unhooking mat.

Getting her in the weigh sling was a job but the zeroed scales went round to 6lb 12oz.

No picture taken in the by now almost darkness but a PB freshwater Eel longer than my arm and just as thick.

I am still sitting here gobsmaked absolutely gobsmaked.

I had heard stories of the water (the deep clear irrigation resi) containing good Eels but never expected to see let alone catch one!

I am convinced the lost fish Tuesday was another one.

I do have a question about Eels:

Do other fish avoid an area they are feeding in?

I ask as after the catch the swim came alive with plenty of bites and several Crucians in the net yet beforehand only the one bite in an hour?

[AddictedToScopex]

Fantastic fish Rudd. I bet you are still smiling. I was over the moon to get my 4lb+ and can only imagine how much bigger a 6lb+ would be. I hope to change that at some point. Nothing better than a great surprise like that. Great stuff.

 

Seems eels are finding a new found respect at the moment. When i was growing up people had nothing but bad things to say about them. Now people are actively targetting them and actually enjoying it.

[Phone]

RUDD,

 

You ask, """"Do other fish avoid an area they are feeding in?""""

 

Just conversation, no facts.

I'd guess the answer is no. Fish don't reason. Eels are just another predator and prey fish cannot avoid every predatory species. I'm not sure and would be interested in an answer myself, do eels feed in cycles. For some reason I thought they were strictly opportunistic feeders and used stealth as the primary means for success. That is a question.

 

OTOH I avoid feeding in areas that have eels. Frankly I don't like them.

 

Phone

[Anderoo]

An amazing fish Rudd, congrats. Equivalent to a 50lb carp!

 

A big bream specialist told me that bream do not like feeding alongside eels. He didn't know why. When he baited for bream, he would bait another area nearby in a different way to keep the eels busy and away from his bream bait. His conclusions were based on observation rather than assumption.

[Vagabond]

That's a "rill ill" Rudd - well done.

 

as to your question, "do other fish avoid feeding eels ?"

 

On the few occasions where I have fished deliberately for a bag of eels, I have caught eels and nowt else

 

Eg Slapton Ley, using deadbaits by daylight - 10 eels (between 3 and 5 lb) yet no pike, and Slapton used to be stiff with pike. A livebait, or a deadbait fished off the bottom would usually result in a pike run within a very short time

 

Sussex Ouse, on several occasions, using lobs, all eels, but no chub, no perch, no bream - and there is no shortage of all three.

 

OTOH I have lost count of the times that I have been bottom fishing for something else, using worm, maggot, meat, shellfish etc, and eels have invaded my swim and put paid to catching whatever I was after.

 

I don't know if that is evidence that other fish "avoid" the eels, or whether it is simply a matter of greedy eels getting to your bait first.

Edited May 3, 2013 by Vagabond

[poledark]

I'm interested in the bubbling Rudd. My first 5 pounder was caught in a similar way...I thought (assumed) it was a carp bubbling, but it turned out to be an eel I dropped a bunch of maggots in and wallop

 

Den

[Anderoo]

Rich and I were having a lighthearted float match a couple of years ago. The points system was something like 10pts for a tench, 1pt for roach/rudd/perch, and an eel sets you back to 0

 

It was pretty even with us both catching roach, rudd and small perch, when a cluster of slow-moving tench bubbles inched closer and closer to Rich's float, which then dipped and slid under. He hit it and instead of the match-winning tench we were both expecting, he found himself connected to a score-zapping eel. Very funny

[Dave H]

Well done thats a belter of an Eel. When landed they are just so different than other fish caught in our waters.

I would have swopped that for my 2 or 3 (one was lost at the net) 20+ carp last weekend.

Although just my own personal feeling for myself if i set my stall out for a big tench and get a big carp i am dissapointed so if i was fishing for say carp and got a big Eel i would not be sad but for me it takes the edge of it. But that's just me and i am a bid silly like that.

 

I fished for Tench last weekend and got plagued by 3 20+ carp which ruined my swim and knocked over my last cup of tea so i had to move. OK fish but not what i was looking for.

 

WELL DONE again that's a super eel :)

 

 

PS...May i ask andrew how many points for a carp?

Edited May 3, 2013 by Dave H

[viney]

Well done hats a cracking eel! And with all the talk of eels at the moment I bet you're grinning ear to ear

[Anderoo]

We didn't acknowledge the existance of carp But I think we had bream down for 1,000pts. (It was Wingham, so a fair score!)